Hello fellow 4-er! There are lots of suitable white flowers that do well for us. White daisies, esp. "Becky" White Phlox, "David" "Miss lingard" ; White Candytuft/iberis ; Lilies both asiatic and oriental (and probably others) Casa Blanca does very well. The ground cover "Snow in summer" White swamp milkweed - asclepias incarnata "Ice Ballet" White Daylilies - Joan Senior needs a bit if winter protection, well-drained soils and extra mulch but will make it. Other light colored daylilies will work and many stay open through the evening. White roses - I have "Gourmet Popcorn" and love it! Also consider "Blanc Double De Courbert" or "Iceberg"I have David Austins' Heritage which is a pale enough pink to pass for white at night. Also in our zone, be sure to get own-root roses...they stand a better chance of getting through the winter. For spring don't forget to plant white crocus,tulips, and daffodils. You can grow white annuals like petunias, marigolds, sunflowers, moonflower, nicotiana and my fav the white version of the black eyed susan vine. Etc, Etc, Etc!! Also don't forget variegated foliage plants! I have white nancy lamium as a ground cover, bishop weed and variegated hostas in the shade garden and I love my variegated red twig dogwood. It's by a window and the inside lights glow through the leaves for passersby, a very nice effect. Lots of very hardy perennials have white varieties which will do very nicely! Good Luck!

I am growing seedless table grapes in zone 4b/a. My plants are in 50 foot rows planted 8 feet apart, 5 plants per row. The trellis is a Geneva double curtain (2 parallel wires, 4 feet apart @ 6 feet from the ground). Rows run North – South. Due to the cold I am growing multiple trunks to have backups in case of winter kill. I have the following questions: 1) Is there a benefit to having a fewer number of trunks in that energy more easily reaches roots? Eg. 2 trunks with 1 or 2 canes each. 4 trunks with 1 cane each. 2) Is it better to have fewer long canes or more shorter canes? Eg. 2 canes, 8 feet long each or 4 canes, 4 feet long each? Total cane lenght each (mature) plant of 16 feet. 3) General advice it to trim trunk at top wire and in next year grow a cane from trunk along top wire and then either cane or spur prune. Right now my trunk has grown up to top wire AND 8 feet along the top wire. Why can’t I just leave the whole thing as one long trunk as opposed to trimming and growing a cane to replace the potion of trunk I cut off. Something to do with the canes fruiting better right? I am going to experiment with different growing options and cane vs spur pruning. Given that I have multiple trunks I will probably try both cane and spur pruning for each plant as well as laying down the trunk vs leaving trunk exposed during winter. Now onto my training questions. I have several options. As metioned it is a Geneva double curtain running north-south with a east wire and a west wire. Option A) 1 trunk growing up to east wire and growing cane 8 feet north with other trunk growing up to east wire and growing cane 8 feet south. I would alternate plants, eg the next plant in the row will grow on the west wire. Option B) 1 trunk growing up to east wire and growing cane 4 feet north with 2nd trunk growing up to east wire and growing cane 4 feet south. 3rd trunk growing up to west wire and growing cane 4 feet north with 4th trunk growing up to west wire and growing cane 4 feet south. Option C) 1 trunk growing up to east wire with 4 foot canes growing north AND south. 1 trunk growing up to west wire with 4 foot canes growing north AND south. What do you think?

BER tends to happen early in the season. As the temps warm up it doesn't happen as much. It's not usually a calcium deficiency so much as inconsistent soil moisture. Never too late to mulch. I usually don't until the soil is nice and warmed up. Just make sure to adjust your watering when you add mulch. Watering less often and more deeply is good for tomatoes. Let the top couple of inches of soil dry out before you water. You want to encourage the roots to go deep. I water via a soaker hose for a couple of hours every third day or so. It's a slower method, so there isn't any ponding or flooding or running off, and it gives the water a chance to really soak down deep. If you're going from container to in-ground, you'll probably tend to reach for the hose a little too often. The key to watering is to check the soil. Stick your fingers down a bit and see how wet it is, and how far down. You'll get a feel for when you need to add water. Also, you can learn to see the subtle droopiness tomato plants get when they need water. Don't let them get really wilty, but slightly droopy is a good indicator. Be aware that as it heats up they might naturally wilt a little during the hottest part of the day. As long as they perk back up in the evening, they probably don't need water. The soil might be part of the reason. If I recall it's supposed to be mixed into your native soil, not used straight out of the bag.

HalloBlondie, I’ve heard great things about Crocus rose for colder zones, I’ll have to keep my eye out for it. LD Braithwaite is doing well for me here too, second year in a protected location with minimal dieback. Walmart (of all places) is where I found LD Braithwaite. Canadian Shield is doing great for me as well. Planted last year and very little dieback this year - in a spot with reliable snow cover. It had bright clear red blooms all last season, however no fragrance I could notice. I almost bought more, Costco online has 6 plants for $64.99, no membership needed & free shipping, https://m.costco.ca/bulbs-plants-seeds.html Costco online had a David Austin rose collection before but it looks like it’s not longer available, I’ll have to keep an eye out for it next year. Oscar Peterson had lots of powdery mildew for me last year but perhaps this year it will be better. I did have one wet year where Winnipeg Parks had lots of black spot, but not for the last two years. Mary_rockland, Priarie Joy is another excellent rose, I can’t believe I forgot about it, it’s also up there as a favourite. The only drawback is it lacks fragrance. However it flowers all season long, the blooms have a neat cup shape, and the plant has interesting matte blue-green leaves and a fantastic dense bush form. I got Wasagaming mail order through Cornhill Nursery, they have a lot of specialty roses, http://www.cornhillnursery.com/Roses.html . It was very small and twig-like when I got it and now it’s become a monster! One of my hardiest and biggest roses now, incredible fragrance and dripping in blooms during its flush. Unfortunately it has only one flush of blooms, but the flush lasts for a while, I think for almost a month. Most roses are just starting to form buds at the end of their tips right now here, it’ll be a while yet before I see blooms.